


A Tattoo is Worth a Thousand Words

by jtjenna (pornographicpenguin)



Series: What We Will Find [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Tattoos, M/M, dumb fluff, jean and marco watch reality tv together and judge people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 07:30:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2340158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pornographicpenguin/pseuds/jtjenna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I have tattoos," Eren says.</p><p>"You do?" Jean asks, rather surprised.</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>"...Can I see?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tattoo is Worth a Thousand Words

"What're you watching?" Eren asks, leaning over the back of the couch.

" _Ink Master_ ," Marco says, from his left.

"Dumb tattoo show," Jean says, from his right.

"Ah," Eren says. On-screen there's a somewhat-chubby white girl with red-rimmed eyes who's getting shouted at by at least three separate dudes.

"Fucking asshats," Jean murmurs.

Eren blinks.

"They are," Marco agrees.

"Don't pick on Sarah!" Jean shouts, a demonstrative hand raised at the television. "Sarah's fuckin' _cool_."

"Well," Marco says, a note of disagreement in his voice.

A finger races straight past Eren's nose and into Marco's face.

"Sarah is amazing," Jean says, his finger taking on a decidedly accusatory position. "Protect Sarah at all costs." Eren rolls his eyes.

Marco follows suit, though a little more exaggeratedly. "You just think she's hot."

Jean's eyes flick from Marco to Eren. "No!" he shouts, his voice scaling upwards to an awkwardly high and panicky pitch.

Marco gives Jean a long, lingering look. "Sure," he says. "Of course."

Jean blushes soft pink, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the TV. "And who fucking has tattoos, anyway?" Jean starts. Marco's eyebrows furrow into a single, pitying line. "Tattoos are -- people with tattoos are much less likely to be hired by employers, and display a marked lack of -- "

"I have tattoos," Eren says.

Both Jean and Marco twist around to stare at him.

"You do?" Jean asks, rather surprised.

"Yeah," Eren says.

There's a long moment in which the two of them simply stare at Eren. Onscreen the same girl from before gives an impassioned speech, clenching her jaw tight and screwing her lips into a tight line.

"...Can I see?" Jean asks.

A second passes before Eren says, "Maybe."

"O-kay!" Marco says, hopping off the couch. "That's my cue to leave. Goodbye, guys, I'll see you later," he says, picking his bag up off the floor.

"Wh -- Marco!" Jean shouts after Marco, who is out of sight and at the front door more quickly than Eren can blink an eye.

"Don't need to hear your weird kissing noises!" Marco shouts. "But you two have fun!" The door slams behind him.

Jean blinks. "You just kicked him out of his own house, Eren."

Eren glares at him. "That wasn't _my_ fault, dumbass!"

Jean crosses his arms, turning away. "Whatever," he says as Eren hops over the back of the couch, making the entire thing creak and rock as he falls onto the cushions. On the television the angry buzzing of tattoo machines continues. "So," Jean says, side-eyeing Eren in a very unsubtle manner, "can I see them?"

Eren thinks about it for a second. They've been officially "dating" for about two weeks now -- which is significant in a rather obscure way, Eren supposes, but doesn't really factor into his decision in any kind of significant way. There's really not any reason not to. It's not like he has his dick tattooed or anything.

"Yeah, why not," Eren says, standing up. He doesn't spend very long looking at Jean, but does take note of the unashamedly eager expression on his face.

Eren faces Jean as he strips off his shirt. The television is still going in the background, the impassioned chattering of the cast breaking the silence at odd points. "This one," Eren says, pointing to the upper left portion of his chest.

"Oh," Jean says -- it's not an unimpressed kind of 'oh' or even a disapproving one, but the kind of 'oh' said with a sinking feeling, the kind of 'oh' Jean lets slip out of his mouth when he finds something very attractive. Eren can't help but feel a little smug.

Eren smiles. The tattoo is of a set of wings, crossed over one another and mismatched in color so they look like they'd be more like an emblem than anything else. And the feathers -- incredibly detailed and absolutely gorgeous, in Eren’s opinion -- are a dark, bluish-black on one side, and a faded white on the other.

"That's not the kind of thing I expected," Jean says. Eren can hear the noise when he swallows from where he's standing, which is -- actually kind of hilarious.

"It matches Mikasa's," Eren says.

"Ah," Jean says, crossing his legs.

"Well, not quite -- match," Eren explains. "We both have feathers."

Jean nods, and Eren has to admit that he’s not particularly fearful Jean will inquire any more about that fact, but Eren doesn’t give him the opportunity, turning around before Jean has the chance to say anything. "And this one, also."

Eren can't see Jean's face, but he thinks he can pretty accurately imagine the expression he's probably making right then. "Jesus fucking _Christ_ , Eren!"

A smile creeps across Eren's face: the tattoo on his back curls along the curve of his shoulder, a bony, nearly skeletal face. The teeth rise up into a second level farther back into its mouth, its jaw opening to allow its tongue to loll out of its mouth. But Eren's favorite part is definitely the eyes, a dark blue that verges into green at points, and the way its entire head is tilted just a bit to the side, like it had noticed something on the third axis, outside of the two-dimensional canvas of Eren’s back.

"What the _fuck_ ," Jean murmurs. And then, "That's badass."

“Yup,” Eren says, grinning.

“What _is_ that?”

Eren shrugs. “A thing,” he responds, rather lamely. Which -- isn’t exactly a lie, but isn’t even close to the truth, either. He’d had dreams -- really freaky, horrific dreams with scaling walls of muscle and the sensation of being smothered by steam, his limbs severed from his body repeatedly and without mercy. He used to wake up screaming.

He hasn’t had one in years, though. Maybe with the distancing of the horror, the image became more important to him.

But it’s whatever. He doesn’t explain.

“The color,” Jean says, his thumb skating along the edge of his shoulder. Eren’s attention snaps back to that: Jean, feeling up his tattoo. Eren has no time to be angsty when such fun things are occurring.

He smiles. “Yeah, it stayed better than in the other one.”

Jean grunts something vague and distracted in response. It’s another moment of just standing there, listening to the contestants of the dumb tattoo show be judged for their work (many stiff upper lips and some cold, hard truth), before Eren feels another hand slide over his hip.

“Hey, Eren,” Jean says, hooking his chin over Eren’s shoulder. His breath brushes along the line of Eren’s chin, his fingers lightly sweep along Eren’s waistline. “You wanna…”

Jean pauses just long enough for Eren to cut in, “Fuck?”

Jean deflates against him. Eren can almost perfectly picture the pout on his lips. “Yeah.”

“Yes,” Eren says, smiling, twisting around to face Jean. “Stop trying to be smooth, it’s dumb.”

Jean’s lips part in offense. “I was not -- ”

“You were,” Eren says, but he leans in and kisses him anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> i spent like five hours watching ink master the other weekend and it wasn't terrible


End file.
